


when can i talk to you? i think about it (whenever i see you)

by adequater



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 00 liner of nct except renjun, High School AU, M/M, and also basketball players!ten&jaehyun, are ten and jaehyun dating? up to u :-), hina also mentioned for a sec, mentions of porn, plus mark lee, renjun and taeyong were mentioned for like one second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 09:43:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8157712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adequater/pseuds/adequater
Summary: the thing about developing a crush on someone is, the crush just slips up to you like the wind, and when you catch it, it leaves you breathless, surprised, and not right in the mind. this is what mark experienced when he first met na jaemin, the boy of gorgeous smile, and a heart of gold.





	

**Author's Note:**

> basically mark started school late. so, in the beginning of the story mark is 14. while jaemin, donghyuck, and jaemin were 13. and they were in 8th grade.
> 
> when mark watched that thing, he was 16, while the others were 15, which is 10th grade. i'd like to believe that when things started to progress is when they were in 10th grade, and they have an idea about feelings :) 
> 
> also there is a little smutty scene but it is NOT sexual intercourses between the members of nct
> 
> not beta'd but will do it when i have time. edit: beta'd, and added some final words here and there, but there could still be some grammatical error here and there, since i'm my own beta
> 
> have fun reading

The thing about first impression is, it sticks. It stays forever engrained in your mind, whether it’s good or bad, and it is what you think of the person until _death,_ unless you actually get to know the person, and your opinion on them changes. While Mark Lee does believe the fact that he must leave a good impression on everyone he meets, it doesn’t mean that he actually leaves a good impression _every time._

Sure, of course, Mark does leave a good impressions for a quite great number of people, if the questions about schoolwork, his position in the basketball team, and his large circle of friends (acquaintances?) are something to go by. Exhibit one, being Lee Donghyuck, his best friend since the third day of kindergarten. While Mark remembers his first impression of Donghyuck being a little tacky and cocky at a tender age of 5, Donghyuck said that his first impression of Mark was very.... impressive (as impressive a 5-year-old can get), because apparently, anyone who remembers all of Barney’s songs were superior in Donghyuck’s little 4-year-old mind (he also said that it all changed on the fourth day of kindergarten when Mark sneeze-farted).

 

While his first impression of Donghyuck was a little bad, his first impression of Jaemin was, safe to say, all good things in life.

 

Mark would be quite literally lying if he says that Jaemin’s charms do not have the same effect on him as it does to everyone else. His smile is wide and annoyingly gorgeous. His teeth are those naturally straight ones, so Jaemin said truthfully over lunch one day that he didn’t require a braces when he was in the awkward age of 10 like everyone else did, and Mark, very lowkey, envies it, because Mark remembers his pictures at the age of 10 with mouth full of metal, and awkward smiles in photographs. Jaemin’s hair is always kempt, and when it doesn’t look properly combed, or gelled, it is that good kind of messy that Mark can never seem to pull off (he tried it once before, in front of his wide bathroom mirror, and when he went to show it to his mum, his mum just blatantly said that, “Minhyung-ah, you look like a grizzly bear.”). Jaemin’s metabolism is ridiculously high that he can shove anything in his mouth and not get fat, while Mark on the other hand, struggles to not gain weight, and makes sure he goes for a run everyday ever since he was 14. Mark still can’t decide if this is just pure envy, or something else.

 

Mark first met Na Jaemin on the first day eighth grade, age 14. He was just shuffling slowly through the hallway trying to get to his classroom. Donghyuck oddly not by his side since Donghyuck insisted on being super early to get the good seats in the classroom (read: either at the back, or in the middle). Mark waved, and said ‘welcome back to school!’ bitter-sweetly to the acquintances he passed. When he got to the classroom, he was greeted with a bunch of hellos, pats on the back, and Donghyuck yelling at him to hurry up and sit next to him before he lets anyone sit there. That only made Mark slow down more, and Donghyuck getting extra irritated.

 

“Heard we’ll be getting a new student today,” Jeno, a close and not quite close friend of them drawled out, turning to the back to face the two.

 

“Is it a girl?!”

 

“Tsk,” Mark hits Donghyuck’s head with his pencil case as he was taking them out, “is that all you think of, punk? What did you do while I was in Canada? Watch porn everyday?”

 

“Shit, Mark, that hurts!” Donghyuck whined, pouting as he rubbed the spot Mark had just hit, Jeno looking at them in amusement, and no pity to Donghyuck's supposedly pitiful pout. They both silently acknowledged that Donghyuck didn’t even try to deny the statement.

 

“Nah, heard it’s a guy. The girls said that he’s like really good looking,” Jeno replied, looking disinterested despite the threat of not being the most handsome in the class anymore hung in the air.

 

“Will he surpass Taeyong sunbae?” Donghyuck asked, doodling absentmindedly on his desk, lips between his teeth. Jeno shortly joining after that with his own black marker pen.

 

“Yeah, right,” Mark snorted drily.

 

It would be incredibly cliché to say that his life completely changed when he met Na Jaemin, and Mark really hated (hates?) exaggeration, but he swore he could feel his heartbeat pick up when the said new boy entered the classroom right after the teacher, with his perfectly straight teeth, perfectly combed hair, and perfectly fitted uniform. No one can look that good in school uniform. Mark barely registered the teacher saying things about Jaemin the new student, and how the other should treat Jaemin well, and he didn’t even register the fact that the girls are obnoxiously grinning slash giggling at Jaemin’s handsome face, while the guys remained stone-faced, or some, with welcoming smiles, but he quite remembered (even until now) how Jaemin sounded when Mark first heard him.

 

“Hello, my name is Na Jaemin, I’m 13, and I just moved from Busan. Please treat me well,” fuck, it’s definitely the voice. The voice was probably still going through puberty but it was still amazingly deep and incredibly raspy, and Mark found himself slowly drowning in it, without him even realising it at that age, deceiving the low drop to his stomach as the nervousness of having a new classmate after so long, and his peanut ability to converse with new people. Mark didn’t even hear the teacher saying, “you can sit next to Jeno,” and Jeno lifting his hand up. Too busy staring a little too intensely at Jaemin without realising that the boy was getting closer, and closer until….

 

“Hi, I’m Donghyuck! We’re friends, right? So we can like speak informally to each other?”

 

“Of course!” Jaemin replied, putting his bag on his chair with a small thud, voice deep and mesmerising, smiling at Donghyuck and Jeno, Gods, his _smile,_ it made Mark stare even more, and he wasn’t even aware of it. Donghyuck gave him a weird look, and Mark didn’t even notice, too busy _staring._

 

“Hyung, introduce yourself,” Jeno said, kicking Mark’s foot lightly, he kept insisting on not dropping the formalitiesdespite Mark saying countless time that he didn’t mind not being called hyung.

 

It was only then that Mark snapped out of his reverie, introducing himself, “Ah, I’m Lee Minhyung, but you can just call me Minhyung, or Mark, it doesn’t matter,” he avoids eye contact when Jaemin turned to look at him, and Mark looked up just in time to see Jaemin’s smile (still) directed at him, his insides churned slightly, and he had no idea what it was. It scared him that he was feeling weird and icky about a boy.

 

“This hyung right here, is actually born in 1999! You can call him hyung, or whatever, Mark really doesn’t care about the age difference!” Donghyuck said cheerily, and the teacher looked pointedly at them to stop talking when the principal’s announcement started, and Jaemin turned back to the front after shooting Mark and Donghyuck another smile, and Mark felt his heartbeat slowing down. _God. Gods._

-

 

It is sort of hard to not get close to Jaemin after that, with Mark’s route back to his house being the same as Jaemin’s, they go back from school together everyday, while their seats in the classroom being close, making them always have to talk to each other, having the same circle of friends, which leads to eating lunch together, coming over to each other’s houses, and having sleepovers, and Jaemin being liked by everyone. Even Taeyong sunbae has taken a liking to Jaemin since Jaemin joined the school newspaper community a few weeks after he moved.

 

The girls haven’t really stopped obsessing over Na Jaemin. After a few weeks, Jaemin gets love letters or chocolates under his desk or his little locker at the back of the classroom, and Mark can’t decide if he hates how Jaemin goes to the place the confessor asks to meet him only to turn them down gently, or he hates how Jaemin shares his chocolates with them every break or lunch time, or not. He can’t decide at all, and it’s making him a little bit over the edge every time he is around Jaemin.

 

The clarity of what _this_ is all abut comes to him suddenly (or not?) on a particular one boring Saturday, when Mark is just so bored of shuffling through his social medias, reading _manhwas_ , and just everything. Mark would have called his friends to ask if they want to hang but Mark clearly remembers that Donghyuck is stuck with household chores on Saturday, Jeno is at his grandparents’ house, and well… Mark knows Jaemin is free, and he is tempted to ask but he doesn’t think he can handle _this_ while being alone with Jaemin.

 

In one second, he considers studying, but he remembers that just on yesterday’s Friday, he had been in the library right after school, revising, dragging the others with him (well, technically, Jeno and him were the only ones who truly studied while Donghyuck and Jaemin were distractedly laughing in a hush over cat videos, with their unfinished maths sheets in front of them, Mark had to force himself to look away when Jaemin cracked a smile at the ridiculous videos Donghyuck has) so really, Mark is bored of studying too. So his last resolution is to watch the porn sites Donghyuck recommended him a few days ago to which Mark replied with some disgusted noises and a punch to Donghyuck’s right shoulder, but Donghyuck still insisted on having Mark watch it and Mark flinches slightly when he remembers himself saying “never!” Promises are clearly meant to be broken.

 

Mark hurriedly locks his door, despite his parents not being home, grabs his Macbook from his desk, and searches for the name of the website that Donghyuck forwarded to his phone, and hurriedly airdropping the website to his Macbook, his cheeks heating up in excitement or nervousness, Mark doesn’t know. The title of the porn gives away nothing, so Mark plays it, and a well-dressed man comes to his view. Mark licks his suddenly dry lips, waiting for the scene to play out.

 

Another man comes to his view, and immediately, Mark is more than confused, he pauses the porn, double checks his phone to see if he got the correct website, and when he makes sure he does, he hastily resumes the porn, still confused, if not a little aroused. Mark’s cheeks heat up to his ears as the two men undress each other and the view of one of the man’s buttocks come into view, and the other man’s hand groping the said buttocks, it makes Mark’s body feel slightly hot, and when the men slides his fingers inside the other man’s cheeks, Mark pauses the porn, calms his erratic breathing, exits the said porn website, and slammed his Macbook shut. He is going to kill Lee Donghyuck. But more importantly, what does that make him, getting aroused over two men doing unholy things to each other?

 

**from: sneeze farter minhyung**

**[3:28 pm]:** what an actual fuck donghyuck

 

**from: ugly haechan**

**[3:30 pm]:** what ???????

 

**from: sneeze farter minhyung**

**[3:30 pm]:** the fucking porn shit u gave me what the hell

 **[3:30 pm]:** hwat the fuck

 

**from: ugly haechan**

**[3:33 pm]:** oh

 **[3:33 pm]:** kay :-)

 **[3:34pm]:** come over to jaemin’s ;-) we’ll talk on monday p sure jaemin will text u soon to ask u to come over

 

Donghyuck, his dick, and his fucking winky face want to die in Mark’s hand today, that’s for sure, but sure enough, he checks his other messages to see that indeed, yes, Jaemin did text him when he was in the middle of having… business _(“watching gay porn,” his brain helpfully supplies)._ Immediately, he texts his mum to tell her that he’s going to be over at Jaemin’s house when they get back.

 

**from: nana jaeminnie [angel emoji]**

**[2:33 pm]:** minhyung-ah, come over please~!!! im bored n we can play mario kart n make fun of donghyuck bc he’s stuck with his chores n show off to jeno about how much fun we’re having (￣∇￣)

 

 **from: minhyungie (** **ﾉ∀`** **♥)**

 **[3:36 pm]:** does the offer still stand sorry late jst took a nap

 **[3:38 pm]:** also u can’t do that in a sentence jaemin-ah

 **[3:38 pm]:** u must use comas

 

**from: nana jaeminnie [angel emoji]**

**[3:40 pm]:** hyung!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **[3:40 pm]:** ofc it still stands :-)

 

 **from: minhyungie (** **ﾉ∀`** **♥)**

 **[3:40 pm]:** hahaha will b over in 10

 

-

 

On Monday, Mark actually comes early to school, because Donghyuck insists that they need to talk early because Jaemin and Jeno might catch them talking discreetly, and when they see the two talking, they will probably come in between them to ask what they are talking about, and with that reasoning, Mark is immediately sold. Mark still has the feeling that Donghyuck also persuaded him because it’s his day to do the classroom cleaning duty, and he wants Mark to help him do his duties. Donghyuck is surprisingly the only one on Monday who gives a shit ton about clean environment. When Mark enters the classroom, he is greeted by the sight of Donghyuck sweeping the classroom, and only three bags around the classroom, one Donghyuck’s, another two, Renjun’s and his girlfriend, Hina’s, two of their other classmates. Donghyuck pauses his sweeping to shoot a wide, teasing grin at Mark.

 

“Ah, the amateur porn watcher, who’s in the middle of a sexuality crisis, has arrived!” Donghyuck yelled like Mark is a royal, a little too loudly, and Mark immediately looks around in alarm to see if anyone from outside their classroom can heard Donghyuck’s announcement, rather than denying the statement that holds truth in it.

 

Mark marches to Donghyuck and slaps the back of his head, “Yah, shut up, you asshole! Why didn’t you come to Jaemin’s on Saturday? What were you trying to do with that thing you gave me? Literally what are you doing?!” Mark is whisper-yelling despite the two of them being the only one in the classroom, and Donghyuck’s teasing grin only becomes wider from each words. Mark hopes his cheeks tear open.

 

“I thought you said that you would never watch the website I gave you at all?” Donghyuck teases, continuing to sweep the floor as Mark plops down hopelessly on the chair near where Donghyuck’s sweeping.

 

“Yeah, well, I was bored.”

 

“Could’ve went over to Jaemin’s house, though?” Donghyuck hums lightly, “you knew he was free before he invited you over, why didn’t you?”

 

Donghyuck’s question hangs heavily in the air, and Mark sits in silence, putting his head on the table, with his arm resting on the table as he absentmindedly watches Donghyuck continue to sweep the floor. Well, a good question, why didn’t he? There are many things that comes to his mind at Donghyuck’s question. It could be because Mark feels nauseous about being alone with Jaemin, the thought of being so close to him, with no Jeno or Donghyuck to distract him from Jaemin’s smile directed at him, Jaemin’s tendency to cling to him, resting his chin on Mark’s shoulder, and other unexplainable things Jaemin does to him but not the others. It is quite peculiar, and Mark shrugs it off quite often, but it becomes apparent from day to day how these affections affect him, and how… _differently_ Jaemin treats him compared to the other boys.

 

It’s not that Mark resents Jaemin’s confusing affections. Mark belatedly realises now that he is scared of it. Just how special Jaemin is to him because he certainly has never thought about how beautiful Jeno’s smile is, or how beautiful Donghyuck’s voice sounds, or in fact, he has never realise how perfect the other basketball teammates' head feel when they rest it on his shoulders, he has never seen any other boys as ethereal as Jaemin. The thought of wanting to hold hands with Jaemin, wanting to go to the Mall with Jaemin when they go back home together with their hands swinging, almost touching between them, and not other boys. Perhaps, he is also scared of other things, how his parents, and other people will react when they know that Mark is probably interested in boys. It scares Mark, just how abnormal this feelings are, and how… unaccepted this all is.

 

“Just so you know, it’s obvious to me how much you like Jaemin,” Donghyuck says, he is now re-arranging the desks so that they are straight, “Jeno knows too, but he doesn’t have the heart to tell Nana, neither do I, honestly. But, maybe it’s because we’ve been best friends since forever, but yeah. It’s obvious how much you stare at him, and like it when he holds your hand, or like do that shit with his head on your shoulder, and ask for your water. Very gross, by the way, sharing water is like, death wish. Also, you get that weird look on your face every time Jaemin gets his love letters, but, okay, anyway, I know you like Jaemin, and I know you do too.”

 

“Does that make me gay?” Mark whispers the last word silently, as if the burden of saying it out loud is much more than the burden of actually labelling himself that. He doesn’t know at all, and feelings are confusing. He wants to cry at how overwhelming this all is, but crying is too exhausting for a Monday morning.

 

“Hm,” Donghyuck hums, looking up absentmindedly like the answer is at the top of his in bubble form, “maybe. I’ve never seen you look at girls, but maybe, none has caught your interest yet. But yeah, maybe you’re gay, maybe you’re bi, maybe you’re pan? Who knows, really? Just don’t think about labels yet, but don’t think that your feelings for Jaemin are wrong, Minhyung-ah.”

 

Donghyuck only calls him Minhyung when he thinks Mark needs comfort, like that one time in fourth grade when a girl called Mark’s drawing ugly, and Mark felt like crying, but Donghyuck had stood up to him, and asked the girl what she's going to do about her ugly face, and Minhyung realised how lucky he really was (is) to have Donghyuck as a best friend when the girl cried, and reported it to the teacher, which gained the girl a detention after school.

 

“So, I’m your best friend, huh?”

 

“Don’t go ahead of yourself, it’s really not that deep,” Donghyuck huffs, looking up at the big clock above the teacher’s desk, their classmates would be arriving at this time now, “Jeno and Nana are my best friends too, you’re just higher in the rank because you’ve been there longer, alright?”

 

“Thanks, Haechan,” Mark softly says, walking toward him, and hugging him awkwardly.

 

“Of course, Minhyung,” Donghyuck replies, patting Mark’s back. “Just tell your feelings to Jaemin, who knows, maybe he’ll accept you.”

 

“Oh, what is this?!” a voice rasps out, and the two boys broke apart from each other in alarm. Jeno.

 

“Just Mark handling his sexuality crisis,” Donghyuck replies cheerily, going to his desk and plopping down, sipping on his water.

 

“Oh, finally? Will you fnally confess to Jaemin so that you two can stop acting like lovesick puppies?” Jeno asks, putting his bag on his chair before sitting down.

 

“Yeah, right, I don’t know if he even likes-“

 

“Ah, what is this, why are you all so early? Did you all plan this without me?!” Jaemin, who just arrived, along with a few other classmates, asks as he marches to his seat in front of Mark, a hint of teasing and seriousness behind his voice, trying to hide his insecurity that his close friends are hiding something, a pout on his lips, and Mark berates himself silently for finding it so cute.

 

“Of course not, Nana. I was just helping Donghyuck with his duties,” Mark replies, and Jaemin immediately shoots him a smile, all that previous restlessness gone with Mark’s words, Mark finds himself hoping that these… affections he has for Jaemin is not truly one-sided. Hope is not wrong, right?

 

“Minhyung-ah, can you help me with this bio question?” Jaemin asks with a sheepish grin, and really, honestly, truly, who is he to say no with this kind of infatuation? Jeno and Donghyuck can only fake gag to each other as they look at the two. Mark is not even that good at biology.

 

-

 

Mark has basketball training on every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, while Jaemin has his newspaper meetings every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. They walk back together to their respective houses every single school day together as their individual training, and meeting finish at six, but even on Thursday, the day Jaemin doesn’t have any meetings, he still waits for Mark to finish his training, waiting sometimes in the library or most of the time, watching him in the court. Jeno called this bullshit and asked him why he even bothers, but Jaemin indignantly replied with a flimsy excuse that he doesn’t like walking back alone, Donghyuck just mouthed  _whipped_ to Jaemin, Jaemin tried to charge to Donghyuck, and Mark, the peacemaker between them, said to stop disturbing Jaemin, and flicked Jeno and Donghyuck's forehead lightly. His teammates, Jaehyun and Chittaphon in particular, are always teasing him whenever they see Jaemin on the bleachers (which is practically all the time) either watching Mark, or doing some reading, or on his phone, calling Jaemin his handsome boyfriend, and before his Sexuality CrisisTM, he would just stomp off to his position, with rosy cheeks, telling them to shove off, and they would reply with obnoxious slash fond laughter.

 

This Thursday is no different than the other. He comes inside the gymnasium with Jaemin next to him, chatting about their recent test, and their homework load, and Jaemin’s files are carried by Mark without him realising, this has somehow become a habit without them even noticing it, and Mark tells Jaemin that he is going to go to the locker room to change real quick, and Jaemin shoots him a reassuring grin that makes his heart beat faster than he would like it to be. A normal Thursday, a Thursday like no other.

 

Except when he comes out of the locker room after changing, he sees Jaehyun and Chittaphon cornering Jaemin. Well, not really cornering, Jaehyun is sitting on Jaemin’s right, while Chittaphon is on Jaemin’s left. His first instinct is to run towards them, and ask them what are they doing to his... friend, but he sees, Jaemin blushing, and all coherent thoughts flies out of his head as he jogs lightly towards them.

 

“What are you two doing?”

 

“Nothing to worry, Mark,” Chittaphon replies, his Thai accent apparent, making his Korean awkward, he makes eye contact with Jaehyun, and stiffles a laughter, “just asking what is Jaeminnie’s intentions with our maknae!”

 

“Ah, hyungs seriously! Go away, stop disturbing him!” Mark exclaims, resisting the urge to stomp his feet to voice out his frustrations. Jaehyun and Chittaphon start to get up, and Mark can see how the tension visibly dissolves from Jaemin’s shoulders.

 

“Tsk, tsk, our baby is so angry right now,” Jaehyun replies, jumping over the chairs to the floor expertly, and patting Mark’s head, which makes Mark a hundred times more irritated. “You do know that we’re just teasing you, right?” Jaehyun suddenly asks, his voice shows his concern of going overboard.

 

“Yes, yes, go now,” Mark huffs, fixing his hair, and moving to sit next to Jaemin after another pat on the head from Chittaphon. Fuck, he just fixed his fair for fuck’s sake.

 

“What did they do to you?” Mark asks worriedly, scanning Jaemin as if searching for injuries, but he knows that his teammates would never hurt anyone.

 

“It’s nothing, really,” Jaemin barks out a laugh, grinning his famous grin, “they were just asking some things about us. They really thought we are dating, you know?” Mark doesn’t know, and he thought they were teasing him all along, but he didn’t say anything, “Quite interesting. Why do you think they think of that?”

 

“I-“

 

“Lee Minhyung! Get your ass over here, and start with six laps!”

 

“We’ll talk later, Nana.”

 

A grim smile from Jaemin, and the whole practice goes by in a blur, with Mark’s mental state going around like the bouncing basketball.

 

-

 

Mark rushes to take a shower after he finishes training, Mark quite truthfully prefers his heated water at home instead of the school’s cold water, but the reminder of Jaemin walking with him makes him feel the need to take a shower every time because he doesn’t want to smell bad for Jaemin. Mark quickly changes into a white shirt and some pants he packed this morning before exiting the locker room with a quick “bye!” to his teammates, to which his teammates holler back with the same sentiment.

 

Jaemin has already packed the book Mark saw Jaemin reading, and Mark can feel his heart beating faster again as he catches Jaemin’s eyes, and they shoot each other a smile. “Let’s go,” Mark says, and he picks up his bag, and Jaemin huge files, and they both walk out of the school. They walk in silence to their houses until Jaemin says something.

 

“Let’s just say.”

 

“Mhmm.”

 

“Let’s just say that…. Hypothetically, of course.”

 

“Mhmm.”

 

“Let’s just say that if I were to accept a confessions from the love letters I get,” Jaemin finally continues, “how would you react?”

 

Mark walks in silence as he thinks about the words. What does this mean? Is he asking Mark for confession advices when he can’t even confess to Jaemin? Why is he asking about this? What if he really wants to accept a confession from someone? Did Mark figure things out too late about his crush on Jaemin? Does Jaemin have a crush on another person? What is he-

 

“Just say it truthfully, Minhyung-ah,” Jaemin utters softly, and Jaemin takes Mark’s free hand that is not holding his file in his, something Mark has been wanting to do but never has the guts to do so. It makes his heart beat faster like it usually does when Jaemin does the slightest things to Mark, and it’s driving him a little bit crazy.

 

“I,” Mark gulps, what exactly is the truth, he wonders briefly, with their hands swinging lightly between them like the light evening breeze, “I would be happy for you.”

 

They have arrived at Jaemin’s house now, which means, it’s time for them to let go of each other’s hands and while Mark’s answer may contain something right judging by the way Jaemin caress his hand with his thumb, it still feels like something is still left unresolved as Jaemin lets go of their intertwined fingers, pecks his cheek, and softly bids goodbye and good night to him as Mark stares his walking form to his front door.

 

-

 

**from: sneeze farter minhyung**

**[12:01 am]:** thinking about confessing to nana

 

**from: ugly haechan**

**[12:02 am]:** oHHHHHHHHH

 **[12:02 am]:** gr8

 

**from: sneeze farter minhyung**

**[12:02 am]:** expecting a grand standing ovation here

 

**from: ugly haechan**

**[12:03 am]:** [clapping emojis]

 **[12:03 am]:** gd luck minhyung hyung!!!!!!!!!!!!!! fighting!!

 

**from: sneeze farter minhyung**

**[12:03 am]:** it’s gnna be in like the grandest way possible

 

**from: ugly haechan**

**[12:04 am]:** yh okkkk

 **[12:04 am]:** gd night see u tomorrow

 

**from: sneeze farter minhyung**

**[12:05 am]:** night donhyuck

 **[12:05 am]:** donghyckl*

 **[12:05 am]:** dongyuk*

 **[12:05 am]:** damn it wtv

 

-

 

“A fucking confession card. A pink confession card with _Na Jaemin, can you meet me at the school’s lawn at 12;15 PM, XOXO, Secret Admirer,_ ” Donghyuck deadpans the next day, Jeno with the same unimpressed look on his face.

 

“What do you want? A fucking plane spelling out ‘I like you, Jaemin’?!” Mark whisper-yells, huffing, a little pout on his lips, as his two best friends continue to stare at him with their identical unimpressed look, and Mark is so infuriated.

 

“A damned poo spelling out ‘I like you Jaemin’ is better than this fucking confession card, hyung,” Jeno says, looking over his shoulders to look at the door, in case Jaemin comes in.

 

“Yeah, well, okay stop judging me, okay? I know what I’m doing! Jaemin always goes to the place in his confession card asks him to go,” Mark worries over his bottom lip, and continues, “just don’t say anything to anyone, okay?”

 

“Okay, Mark. It’ll be okay,” Donghyuck says, the two boys relenting when they see the clear restlessness in Mark’s eyes. “where did you put the card again?’

 

“His lock-“

 

“Oh, wow, I can’t believe this. you all came early without telling me again?!” Jaemin whines loudly as he enters the classroom, making eye contact with only Jeno and Donghyuck, and Mark has the sinking feeling that he is only doing that because of last night. Fuck.

 

“Look at you getting ahead of yourself again,” Donghyuck tsks, flicking Jaemin’s forehead, and Jaemin’s hisses in pain, “Mark was having duty so he was early, and you’re the one who’s always late. Not us who’s early, you brat!”

 

“Who are you calling a brat, brat?! Come help me with my maths,” Jaemin retorts, pulling his chair to Donghyuck’s table, his back facing Mark, and Mark can only stare at it sadly, while Jeno giving him a comforting smile. Mark can only reply with a grim smile of his own before taking out his books for first period.

 

Jaemin didn’t even ask for Mark’s help. He’s the best out of the whole class in maths.

 

-

 

During lunch, Mark immediately excuses himself with the pretence of being called by Mr. Jung, and he immediately goes to the school’s lawn waiting for the clock strike 12:15 pm. He thinks again about the consequences of confessing to Jaemin, the worst case scenario would be getting rejected, and not being friends with Jaemin again, while the best case scenario would be… Jaemin accepting his confession, and liking him back? He doesn’t really know, and he is starting to regret his decision of coming too early because his tummy suddenly churns with butterflies or indigestion, he doesn’t really know, but the thought of going to bathroom for a while before confessing flies out of his head when he sees Jaemin walking, and looking around, and when he spots Mark, his eyes widen in alarm, and he quickly turns back, and tries to jog subtly away from Mark, but Mark is in fact a faster runner, God bless basketball, and he catches up to Jaemin, and takes his wrist, stopping him in tracks.

 

“Why are you avoiding me?” Mark asks softly, trying to look confidently into Jaemin’s eyes, when it’s obviously avoiding Mark’s, settled on the ground instead, “look at me, Nana,” when Jaemin doesn’t comply, Mark puts his fingers on Jaemin’s chin, and lifts his face, anyone seeing them would probably see that this is nothing friends do, and this will spread everywhere, but Mark is really not interested in his surroundings right now, because in front of him is Jaemin, Jaemin, Jaemin.

 

“W-well,” Jaemin stutters, his cheeks a rosy pink, “I don’t know, I thought you didn’t like me when you said that you would be happy for me if I accept other people’s confessions. I just,” Jaemin breaks off in frustration as he holds eye contact with Mark, they have been for the past 3 minutes, “sometimes I think that you do like me because you seem to always have a soft spot for me. but maybe it’s a _dongsaeng_ thing, and you’re just,” he breaks off again, and in his eyes, Mark sees all the frustration in the past years, something that Jaemin has to endure, and he feels so sorry, but Jaemin isn’t done yet, his eyes burn brightly as he continues heatedly, “so fucking confusing. It seems like you like me, and the next time it doesn’t seem like it. You hate it when girls confess to me, but you never say anything about it, and when you said you’d be happy, I just thought, I had been reading everything wrongly all this time. Plus, I was scared that you would think I went overboard with the kiss.”

 

“Jaemin-ah,” Mark looks down to intertwine their fingers together, and looks back up to Jaemin’s shining eyes, shining so brightly, it’s ethereal, “hyung is sorry. It took me quite a while to actually know that I really like you. I thought that, I don’t know, the anger I get when you get those stupid confessions were just simply envy that I don’t get those. But I realise that it’s just because I’m jealous. That there’s a chance that the people who confess to you would get a chance of getting accepted by you. I really like your smile, your body, the way you are so kind to everyone, how you’re never afraid of asking. Apparently, I also like it when you hold my hands, when you rest your head on my shoulder, when you come to my practices to watch me, when you hug me, I like it when you do that cute thing when you want something from us, when you share food with me, when you just… do things that you don’t do to other people, and only me. ”

 

“It’s probably selfish,” Mark continues, his thumb poking out to caress Jaemin’s hand, Mark can’t quite decipher what else is in Jaemin’s eyes, but does see a hint of… affections, “but I really want you to myself. I want to go on dates with you after we get back from school. Study together, hang out at each other’s houses without those hooligans, kissing you, hugging you, just, whatever shit couples do, okay?”

 

“So, my point is-“

 

“Wait, wait, let me do it!”

 

“What?” Mark’s expressions turns into one of confusion, and Jaemin sheepishly smiles before replying, “well, I am always the one receiving confessions and those kind of questions! I want to do it to you, too!”

 

Mark can only laugh at Jaemin’s childlike expression, and he tries to contain his glee as he affirms with a soft, “okay.”

 

“Mark Lee, Lee Minhyung. Mark hyung. Minhyung hyung, will you be my boyfriend?” Jaemin asks, and there’s that gorgeous grin on his face again that made Mark remember of the first time Jaemin shoots that to him, and his heart, and truthfully, honestly, truly, Mark wants to wipe off that ridiculously handsome grin off his face with a kiss, so he just does that after saying, “of course, I will.”

 

-

 

The thing about dating Na Jaemin is, everyday, Mark finds a new reason to love him even more. It could be because of the way he smiles, the way he's oddly clumsy yet neat, the way he picks his nose, the way his mouth hangs open when he sleeps, the way he never fails to win at Mario Kart, the way he skips his vegetables purposely when eating just so that Mark can pick it up with his own chopsticks and feed Jaemin the greens, the way he prefers vanilla rather than chocolate, basically every little things that other people find so ordinary makes him even more in love with Jaemin. It’s ridiculous, but it’s so perfect.

 

People find out, eventually. It’s quite easy, really, for people to find out when their hands are never away from each other. It’s not like they’re embarrassed of their relationship, but they don’t really want attention to garner around them for being the gay couple of the school. During lunch, they either play footsies, or hold hands under the table, or both, while sometimes in the library, Mark sometimes teaches Jaemin things that he doesn’t understand, and they steal kisses when they think no one is looking, or when Jaemin gets an answer right. Sometimes, Jaemin likes to take a small nap in his lap when Mark does his schoolwork, and in class, Jaemin can’t stop giggling ridiculously when Mark, Jeno, Donghyuck, or himself makes stupid jokes, constantly hiding his giggles in Mark’s neck, his breaths of laughter puffing on the skin of Mark’s neck making his body tingle with pleasure, and likewise, while in practices, they got caught when they walked in with intertwined hands, and the basketball team, being the gossip people they are spread it to other people. It’s quite easy, it’s all easy, except for few homophobes here and there, but neither of the two mind them when they have plenty of people supporting them.

 

Their parents don’t know yet, and they’re probably going to know soon, because in parents teacher conferences, they usually tell everything, and the dating news have been sort of popular around the school.

 

Jeno and Donghyuck, being the ever supportive friends always make sure to be with them when they see those homophobes around the school, Donghyuck giving them the nasty eyes, while Jeno threatening them with his hapkido skills that make them shrink away immediately, but there are times when they deem the couple as too affectionate, or terms frequently used, _disgusting, gross, icky, domestic_. Like when Mark rests his head on Jaemin’s shoulders, and Jaemin plays with Mark’s hair absentmindedly with his fingers, while the other hand is holding a book, Donghyuck or Jeno would come up to them and whips their head with something reachable and not too painful, for them to stop being so [refers to frequently used term].

 

All in all, everything has been going well, they’re happy, Mark falls asleep with Jaemin in his mind, and Mark wakes up with Jaemin in his mind, and at school, Jaemin kisses his cheeks every morning to keep things mild, and deep, raspy “good mornings,” every morning from each other at school, at sleepovers, or morning phonecalls on weekends, or break, and if there are few students, they would sneak kisses on the lips. There are times when they disagree on things, when one wants to do something, and the other doesn’t, like, not knowing where to eat, what to do, Jaemin not wanting to study, and prefers to make out when Mark needs to study, and sometimes it’s even the opposite when Jaemin gets in his weird studious moods, or sometimes when Mark gets his Monthly PMSTM (as Donghyuck refers it to as) and suddenly gets jealous when he still sees girls, and sometimes boys (apparently the dating revelation made boys think it’s a green light to confess to Jaemin, _his_ Jaemin), leaving notes, cards, and chocolates on Jaemin’s desk or locker, but all it takes is a grin from Jaemin, and a kiss to assure him that _yes, Jaemin belongs to him and only him, he’s not going to go away even if Mark pushes him away. Wait, please don’t push me away._

 

They’re happy, as long as they have each other, they’ll be alright.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> first nct fic askskkkksn and it's the longest thing i've written
> 
> kudos and comments are truly appreciated!
> 
> i'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/nctkkum) if you wanna follow me! 
> 
> and i opened up a [curiouscat!!](https://curiouscat.me/adequater) if you wanna ask me questions hehe


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